Izobe coach blames fatigue for loss to Eko Kings

Coach of Libreville Izobe Dragons, Jason Reteno has lamented his team’s defeat in the hands of Eko Kings as the Continental Basketball League continues in Lagos at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

Libreville, Gabon based side lost 86-77 in one the most entertaining games so far in the May Madness tournament. The Dragons had started off very well winning the first quarter 29-20 and leading through the break at 54-48. The Eko team covered up and took the lead narrowly at 73-72 when the third quarter ended. Having established the lead, they stayed up to win the match at 86-77.

The Dragons used sevenman rotation which Reteno said contributed to their loss.

He said, “This was a very good game and you know we started very well but it better quite tough using a 7-man rotation all through. It truly would have been a lot easier if we had the full complement of our side but that was not just possible. You could see that we got tired out quickly and that counted a lot.”

Kings point guard Mark Hill said it was a balanced match even though his side won.

“Those guys can shoot; whether they used 3 or 5 men it didn’t matter because they really jumped at us shooting. We just had to take the fight back at them to catch up and win,” Hill said.

And reacting to the fatigue claim of their opponents in the Tuesday night game, Hill said his side also had stamina problem to deal with.

Meanwhile, Captain of Yaounde Giants Christian Bayang has said winning their first two games is not enough to get too confident about securing a playoffs spot in the Continental Basketball League. The tournament that has brought the best of African basketballers to is holding at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in the Surulere area of Lagos.

The Cameroonian who spoke through an interpreter said it was quite huge for them winning their two games but the caliber of the other teams makes the playoffs ticket a big work.

He said, “No, no it’s too early to say we are through to the playoffs; there’s still a long way to go. The games are still very wide open. As we speak for instance, we have not event watched Izobe play and every team is improving with each game. We are all new to the environment and you can see the way the games are changing.

In the last games played on Sunday, Yaounde Giants defeated Lagos City Stars 92-64. The shooting guard shot 11 points as the Cameroonian team won their second straight games.

Giants will have their next match on Saturday when they take on Eko Kings who are ahead of all teams, having won all three matches played so far.